Switching device



3 SHEETSSHEET Patented Mar. 1, 1921.

x ENToRs ATTORNEY SWITCHING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY II, 1914.

J. NIMAHONEY AND H G. MACDONALD v 1 7 I 1 h t u I I 4? j 1 IIIIIIIIII... a Dul L 1V FLY. 5.

WITNESSES 1. N. MAHONEY AND H. G. MAcDONALD.

SWITCHING DEVICE. APPUCATION FILED MAY 11. 1914.

Patented Mar. 1, 1921.

3 SHEETSSHEET 2- WITNESSES INVENTOES ATTORNEY J. N. MAHONEY AND H. G. MAcDONALD.

SWITCHING DEVI CE. APPLICATIONIIHLEID MAY 11. 1914.

2. S WW mm m? LE 7 m 4 m .h

WITNESSES ATTORNEY magnetic circuit of UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

Josnrn 1v. KAHONEY mnnownnn e. MAcDONALD, or wrnxinsnune, PENNSYL- vsma, assmnons 'ro wnsrmonoosn ELECTRIC AND manorac'runme com- PANY, A CORPORATION" OF PENNSYLVANIA.

SWITCHING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 1,- 1921.

Application filed Kay 11, 1914. Serial No. 837,923.

To all whom it 71mg concern:

Be it known that we, J osnrrr N. MAHoNnY, acitizen'of the United States, anda resident of Wilkinsbur in the-county of Allegheny and State of ennsylvania, and HOWARD G. MACDONALD, a citizen of the UnitedStates,

and a resident of Wilkinsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Switching Devices, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to switching de-- vices, and particularly to double-throw, automatically operated switches.

One object of our invention is to provide a double-throw switch for automatically connecting a receiving circuit to the one or the other of two sources of energy.

Another object ofour invention is to provide a selective device for controlling the recurrent operation of a switch, under certain conditions of operation.

Another ob'ect of our invention is to pro vide means or automatically closing the an electromagnet, when the same is ener 'zed, to prevent undue heating of the win ings.

In 0 erations where it is imperative that a continuous service be maintained, it is desirable to supply ener from at least two sources. In order to e iminate the necessity of manually switching from one source of energy to the other when an interruption occurs, we have provided an automatically operatedrswitching device. Since it is desirable,in some cases, to return to theoriginal source of energy when service is; resumed, we have provided a selective device which, will either ermit this or prevent it, at the discretion o the o erator.

'In the accompanying rawings, Figure 1 is a side view-partially in section and partially inelevation, of a switching device embodying our invention; Fig. 2 is a. front view, partially in section and partially in elevation, of the device shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a detail top planview of an operating mechanism embodying our invention; ig. Lisa detailsideelevational view of the mechanism shown.inFig. 3, and Fig. 5-is a diagrammatic view of: a switching device embodying our. invention.

The switching device 1 comprises a plurality of members2,3 and 4, a

plurality of stationary contact members 5 and 5 which arerespectively mounted upon the lower ends of the terminal members 2 and 1, and a plurality of movable contact members 6 and 6 which are mounted upon a plurality of pivotally mounted arms 7 and 7", respectively. The movable and stationary contact members are disposed in an oil-containing receptacle 8, substantially as shown in the drawings. The pivotally mounted arms 7 are operatively connected to the lower ends of two rods 9, the upper ends of which, are operatively connected to a bar 10. The oil-containing receptacle 8 1s supported by a frame work 11 which also supports an operating mechanism 12 embodying our invention.

, ell crank lever 15is pivotally mounted between the standards 11 upon a pin 16. One of the arms 17 of the lever 15 is pivotally connected to the bar lO and the other arm 18 is pivotally connected to one end of a link 20 which is pivotally connected, by a pin 21, at a point intermediate its ends, to a link 22. The links 20 and 22 are severally composed of two substantially parallel arms spaced apart and joined at bothends. The

llllk 20 is disposed within the link 22 Y which ispivotally mounted upon a pin 23 in the standards 13. A downwardly proj ecting member 24 of the link 22 is provided for cooperating with a lever 25. The lever 25 is loosely mounted upon the pin 16 and it is retained in engagement with the member 24.by a spring26. I 3

An operating electromagnet 27, comprising two coils 28 and 29, a stationary core member 30, and a movable core member 31, is supported by the standards 13 and 14. A forked projection 32, having a pin 33 therein, is attached to; the lower side of the movable core member 31. A latch 34 is pivotally mounted uponthe pin 33, and a spring 35 is provided for normally retaining the latch in a predetermined position, as shown in the drawings. provided with a cam face 36 to engage the upper arm of a bell crank lever37. The engagement of the. cam face 36 withthe upper arm of thelever 37 causes the latch 34 to become disengaged from the pin 21, y

for reasons hereinafter set forth. The lower arm of the bell crank lever 37 is connected to a spring 38, and the lever is adapted to be placed in any predetermined position, according to the operation desired, as will hereinafter be more fully described. That is, it may be moved from its normal position to preclude automatic operation of switching device when desired.

One end of a spring 39 is attached to the lever 15 and its other end is attached to the upper part of the frame work 11, for reasons hereinafter set forth. The link 20 is of such length that the outer end of the same engages the under side of the pin 23 when the toggle mechanism, or which it forms a part, is in its uppermost position.

The windings 28 and 29 of the electromagnet 27 are connected to a source ol? energy 40 which we may consider as being connected to the terminal members 4-. A receiving circuit 41, to which our device cornected, has its conductors connected to the terminals 3, and a second source of energy 42, to which it is desired to connect the circuit 41 when the first source of energy -10 is interrupted, may be connected to the terminals 2.

Assuming the apparatus to occupy the positions shown in the drawings. and that the source of energy 40 has been interrupted, for some reason, the operation of our device is as follows:

The movable core member 31 will more downwardly, by reason of the deenergization of the coils 28 and 29, causing the cam face 36 to engage the upper arm of the leve 37, as hereinbet'ore described. The engagement of the cam face 36 with the upper arm of the lever 37 causes the latch 3a to move in a direction shown by the arrow in Fig. 4. After the pin 21 is disengaged from the. latch 34', the projection 32 engages the pin 21 to upset the toggle formed by the members 20 and 22, and the spring 39 moves the arm 17 of the bell crank l ver 15 upwardly. The upward movement of the lever 15 causes the rods 9 to move upwardly and the arms '7 and 7 to rotate. The rotation of the arms 7 and 7 causes disengagement of the con tact members 5 and 6 and engagement of the contact members 5 and 6. Since the le ver 25 is loosely mounted upon the pin 16. and, since it is connected to the member 24 by a spring 26, itfollows the member 2a of the link 22 downwardly and the notch 25" in the member 25 cooperates with the lug 24 on the member '24 to cause the same to act as a restraining or toggle device to prevent the disengagement of the contact members 5 and 6 by any jarring which might occur. This toggle is upset only when the vmember 24 is positively moved upwardly by the latch 3 If it is desired that the circuit 41, to which our device is connected, be returned to its original source of energy .0 upon a resumption of the same, the bell crank lever 37 is retained in the position shown in the drawings. Then, when the coils 28 and 29 are energized by a resumption of the source of energy a0, the movable core member 31 and the latch 3e1- will move upwardly and allow the cam face to follow the upper arm oi the lever 37 until the latch engages the pin 21 and draws it upwardly. The upward movement of the pin 21 serves to set the toggle device constituted by the members 20 and 22 to thus move the arm 18 in a clockwise direction and to move the arm 17 downwardly. The downward movement of the arm 1''? causes the rods 9 to move downwardly to effect engagement ol the conta: t members 5 and 6 and disenga ement oil. the contact members 5 and 6.

f it is not desired to return to the original source olf energy, upon a resumption oi the same, the operator turns the selective le ver 87 such a distance in a countcr clockwise direction that, when the latch 3% again moves upwardly by reason. of the energization of the electromagnet 27, it will not engage the pin 21. The toggle mechanism (0mprising the members 20 and 22 remains in its lowest position to permit the movable core member 31 to move upwardly without effecting any change in the connections of the circuit .1. The movable core member 31 is allowed to move upwardly, since it is desirable to close the magnetic circuit of an electromagnet, when it is energized, to prevent the coils of the same from being burned out. The member 24- and the lever 25 act as a secondary toggle mechanism when the toggle mechanism is in its lower position, hereinbetore explained.

While we have described our invention with respect to a particular construction, it is not so limited but is capable of various modifications within the scope of the ap pended claims.

We claim as our invention:

1. In a switching device for an electrical circuit, the zj-ombinati on with a doublc-throw switch. of an actuating means, a toggle mechanism opeintively connected to the switch, alatch for coi'mecting the toggle mechanism to the actuating means, and a. cam device for automatically disengaging th latch tronrthetoggle mechanism when the actuating means reaches its inoperative position.

2. In a switching device for an electrical circuit, the combination with a double-throw switch, of an actuating means, a toggle mechanism operatively connected to the switch, a latch for connecting the toggle mechanism to the actuating means, means for disengaging the latch from the toggle mechanism under redetermined conditions, and means for hol ing the toggle mechanism in a predetermined position.

3. In a switching device, the combination wlth a double-throw switch, of an electromagnet for actuating the same in one direction, a spring for actuating the switch in the other direction, a toggle-mechanismoperw tively connected to the movable member of the switch, means for operatively connecting the electromagnet to the toggle mechanism, and means for disengaging the said connecting means when the electromagnet is deenergized.

4. In a switching device for an electrical circuit, the combination with a double-throw switch, of an operating electroma et therefor, a toggle mechanismoperative y connected to the switch, a latch for connecting the toggle mechanism to the electromagnet, and selective means for so controlling the engagement of the latch and the toggle mechanism that they are disengaged when the electromagnet is de'elnergized and are maintained disengaged upon reenergization of the electromagnet under predetermined conditions.

In a switching device, the combination with a switch and an operating electromagnet, of a toggle mechanism operatively connected to the movable member of the switch, a latch actuated by the electromagnet for engaging the toggle mechanism, and means for selectively causing the latch to be disengaged from the toggle mechanism when the denergized and when it is redetermined conditions.

the combination electromagnet is energized under 6. In a switching device,

' with a double-throw switch, of an operating electromagnet, a toggle mechanism operatively connected to the movable member of said switch, a latch operatively connected to said electromagnet for engaging said toggle mechanism to actuate the same, and automatic means for disengaging said latch from said toggle mechanism when the electromagnet is deenergi zed.

7. In a switching device, the combination with a doublethrow switch, of an operating electromagnet, a toggle mechanism operatively connected to the movable member of said switch, a latch operatively connected to said electromagnet for engaging said toggle mechanism, means for maintaining said toggle mechanism rigidly in an extreme position, and means for disengaging said latch from said toggle mechanisms when the electromagnet is deenerglzed.

8. In a switching device, the combination with a movable switch member, of an actuatin g electromagnet, means for connecting the electromagnet to the movable switch member, and means for automatically disconnecting the connecting means from the movable switch member when the electromagnet is deenergized.

9. In a switching device, the combination with a movable switch member, of an actuating means, a toggle mechanism connected to the switch member, means for connecting the actuating means to the toggle mechanism, means for holding the toggle mechanism in an extreme position, and means for disconnecting the connecting means from the toggle mechanism.

11.0. In a switching device, the combination with a movable switch member, of an actuating electromagnet, a toggle mechanism connected to the switch member, means for connecting the electromagnet to the toggle mechanism, and means for automatically disconnecting the said connecting means from the toggle mechanism when the electromagnet is denergized and under other predetermined conditions.

11. In a switching device, the combination with a switch, an actuating electromagnet therefor and a toggle mechanism connected to the switch, of a latch connected to the clectromagnet for engaging the toggle mechanism to actuate the switch and a cam memher for engaging the latch when the electro magnet is de'encrgized to disengage the latch from the toggle mechanism, said cam memoer being adapted to assume such position when the toggle is upset for causing it to disengage the toggle mechanism and for main taining the latch out of engagement with the toggle mechanism when the latch is again actuated by the electromagnet.

In testimony whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names this 30th day of April,

JOSEPH N. MAHONEY. HOWARD G. MACDONALD.

lVitnesses T A. H. BAKKEN,

B. B. Hmnsa 

